Description

Published by Rat Hole Gallery in 2011 in conjunction to his exhibition of the same name, Nobuyoshi Araki’s Higan features images taken from two photographic series, Higan and Rakuen. The first half of the photobook displays Araki’s images taken within his Higan series. Here the images were captured during Araki’s intense treatment for prostate cancer and taken after the death of his beloved cat Chiro. Photographed in black and white, the photographs reflect back onto the themes of loss and mortality simultaneously referencing the meaning of Higan – “the other world” or “nirvana” in Buddhism. Included at the end of the publication is a series of images from Rakuen. Here images burst out in full bloom and colour. Flowers, nudes and objects brimm full of life, alluding to Araki’s sentiments of a paradise which exists, intertwined with death.